Effectiveness of social and nonsocial rein forcers in a probability learning task

Abstract

Research in recent years has shown that performance reinforcers become more effective than person reinforcers as a person grows older and that, at least with children, social reinforcement is more effective than nonsocial in motor and probability learning tasks. This study tested the maturity hypothesis, examined social vs nonsocial reinforcement in probability learning, and investigated order of presentation of both social and nonsocial reinforcers. Results were: (1) person reinforcers are equally as effective as performance reinforcers, (2) social reinforcement is more effective than nonsocial in probability learning, and (3) order of presentation in social-nonsocial reinforcement is crucial.